Sox Escape Jays

This game was way too close. The Sox should have blown it open a few times and Foulke nearly blew a cake walk save. Good outing by Arroyo though.

The Man of the Game is Eric Hinske. He made a couple of good plays at a new position and went 3 for 4 with 2 runs, 2 RBI, a double and a homer.

Yankees Drop the Ball

We Own Rivera. Seven Blown Saves against us in the past 2 seasons counting the playoffs. In his last 4 appearances against us, he has blown a save. I don't think we needed this victory in the big scheme of things. But it sure does help to leave New York on a good note as opposed to leaving with a sweep.

It was nice to see the offense put together a nice inning. Manny and Renteria getting some hits. Millar had a great day until he hurt his leg. Damon also did well. Bellhorn had a solid day. Nixon was hitless but he did walk three times.

The Man of the Game is Tim Wakefield. After Wells and Clement couldn't get out of the 5th, Wake went out and pitched 6.2 Innings of 3 hit ball. Probably most important was that he held Matsui hitless.

The Sox have an off day and then go up to Toronto for a three game series before the Home Opener against New York next week.

Good to see the Sox win one for Tito.

Sox Crawl Back Only To Be Kicked Back Down

The good news is that The War is back to being close after Sunday's 9-2 blowout. The Sox were only a few feet from taking a lead but Damon's fly-out to Sheffield didn't have enough energy to get over the right fielder's steroid filled head. Another piece of good news is that we own Mariano Rivera. In his last 10 regular seaosn outings, he has blown 4 saves to us. He blew two in the ALCS last year. I think Rivera's dominance was mostly because of the myth surrounding him. Hitters thought the game was over when he came in. As any sports psychologist will tell you, sports are replete will self-fulfilling prophecies. The Sox seem to have confidence against him though. They have ever since Shea Hillenbrand hit a HR off him over the Monster a few years ago (one of the ebst games I've ever been to). The way Varitek sat on a cut-fastball, turned on it, and drove it was a beautiful thing to see. To quote my friend Will, Rivera has become the Yankees Byung-Hyung Kim.

Anyway, alot of dissapointing performances from the Red Sox took away from some fine outings. First and foremost, Clement did not pitch around trouble very well. The fact that he couldn't go 5 sets up tomorrow's game poorly. Foulke came on strong against the bottom of the order but he did not look great against Jeter. It was a great at-bat but Jeter won it. Nixon had a terrible day in the #2 hole going 0 for 4 with 2 Ks and 5 LOB. Last year the Sox got alot of production out of the 2 spot in the order from Bellhorn and later Cabrera. So far, the Sox #2 hitters are 0 for 8. Manny continued to struggle going 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts. Renteria also failed to get a hit and made his first error of the season.

The Man of the Game is once again Hideki Matsui. This guy is locked in and definately playing in mid-season form. He went 3 for 4 with a pair of RBI, a Homer, and a Run scored.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Clement: 0.2 - 4.1 IP, 3 ER
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Nixon: 0.2 - 0 for 4 with 5 LOB
Renteria: 0.2 - 0 for 4 with an Error
Foulke: 0.3 - IP, ER

The Sox finish their first of seemingly 50 series with New York tomorrow afternoon as Tim Wakefield faces Mike "$16 Million for a #3 starter" Mussina.

Pedro Robbed of Victory

It seems like an annual tradition that Pedro gets screwed over by his bullpen on Opening Day. This time, Braden Looper blew the lead. Pedro had a solid day going 6, allowing 3 ER off 3 hits and striking out 12 Reds.

Round 1: Loss

What a display of great baseball and pathetic baseball on the same stage. I know it isn't the end of the world, but the Sox did not look that good tonight. Everyone seemed a little off except for a few players. The top 3 of the lineup went a combined 0 for 12 with 4 Ks, Mueller went 0 for 3, and Bellhorn struck out 3 times and left 4 men on base. The Sox made 2 errors and had to use 7 pitchers.

For anyone who doesn't know, after every game, I reward a Man of the Game (MOTG) and a Bitch-Goat. The MOTG is simply the player on either the winning or losing team who stood out the most and had the best game. The Bitch-Goat is "rewarded" to players who contribute to the Sox losing. There is 1 Bitch-Goat point per game but it is divided into tenths. If I feel a player/manager/coach/umpire is partially responsible for a loss, they will get 0.1 or 0.2 B-G points. If a player is very responsible for a loss, I will give them 0.7 or 0.8 or even 1.0 B-G points. Both MOTG and B-G will be kept track of and at the end of the year, a Man of the Season will be determined and the biggest Bitch-Goat will be determined.

For this game, Hideki Matsui was the Man of the Game. His 2 run HR in the 8th sealed the victory for New York. His catch in the 2nd of a ball destined for the seats stopped the Sox from gaining any momentum and allowed Johnson to get into a groove. He went 3 for 5, scored 3 times, and knocked in 3 runs. He was a big part of the Yankees 3rd inning rally which was where they won the game, in my opinion.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
David Wells: 0.4 - couldn't throw strikes or pitch 5 innings
Blaine Neal: 0.2 - allowed the Yankees to build on their lead
Johnny Damon: 0.2 - Error, 0 for 4, K
Edgar Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 4, K, 2 LOB
Manny Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 K

The Sox play New York again as Carl Pavano goes against Matt the Missile Clement Tuesday night in the Bronx.

The Celtics are starting to slip into a troublesome area. If they don't shape up, they may lose the divisional lead. If this happens, they either won't make the playoffs or will come in as an 8 seed pitting them against Miami.

First Yankee Game

Is it me, or does this upcoming game against New York not feel the same as it used to? I would always look forward to the 1st Yankee game about the same as I looked forward to Opening Day. This year, it seems like another game to me. Maybe this atitude will change once the game starts and I hear all those New Yorkers chant stuff about having 11 more rings or some other shit.

Batting Order Change

With the end of Spring Training drawing near, Francona has begun to adjust the batting order to represent real games instead of just putting people places where they will get a certain amount of at-bats. At the beginning of spring training, Edgar Renteria was slated to be the #2 hitter in the lineup (I still want Bellhorn, but hey, whatever). However, there's been a change. Trot Nixon was moved into the 2 hole the other day. This makes the lineup look like this:

1. CF Damon L
2. RF Nixon L
3. LF Ramirez R
4. DH Ortiz L
5. SS Renteria R
6. 1B Millar R
7. C Varitek S
8. 3B Mueller S
9. 2B Bellhorn S

Here's a few things I don't like about this order. There are too many lefties bunched together. Granted, Ramirez breaks them up, but a team could put in their situational lefty for an entire inning without really being worried. That's no good. Let's look at speed. Who are the fastest two players on the team? Damon and Renteria. But Damon will have Bellhorn in front of him and Renteria will have Ortiz in front of them. These guys aren't that fast. Why are all the switch hitters at the bottom of the order? Why is Renteria, a man whose career high in HRs is 16, batting in a power spot in front of Millar, who hits for power? Renteria is a singles hitter. How are his singles going to drive in Ortiz unless David is on third? It's silly, if you ask me. Renteria belongs at 1, 2, or 9 in the lineup. Definately not 5. Here is my proposed batting order:

1 CF Damon L
2 2B Bellhorn S
3 LF Ramirez R
4 DH Ortiz L
5 1B Millar R
6 RF Nixon L
7 C Varitek S
8 3B Mueller S
9 SS Renteria R

Notice how not a single lefty bats after another lefty. Notice how Renteria and Damon won't be held up by slow players. Notice that by batting 9th, Renteria will become like a 2nd leadoff man, getting in scoring position in front of RBI guys like Bellhorn, Ramirez, Ortiz, Millar, and Nixon. The middle of the lineup needs to be powerful with guys who hit for extra bases.

Hockey at Fenway?
The Red Sox are starting to get desperate for revenues. I think the appeal of skating at Fenway would die down because when you're inside Fenway on the field, you can't really see the city at all except for the Pru. Then again, this will get the Save Fenway morons all excited. I think this idea is riddled with flaws though. There's way too much that can go wrong and very little that can go right. I think it would be a better idea to have high school or college football games or even soccer games at Fenway as opposed to hockey games. I also think the Red Sox should save all the capital they have in an effort to build a new ballpark but that would be too easy I guess.

Schilling to start Pawtucket's Opening Day
April 7th in Indianapolis against the Indianapolis Indians. If all goes well, the earliest he could start would be April 13th against the Yankees, the first game 5 or more days after the 7th. Before this AAA start, he will pitch in 2 minor league Spring Training games. I didn't see his alst start against the Twins but I saw highlights at the casino (won $150 in Hold Em) and he didn't seem like he was pushing off smoothely. I'm worried that he might be coming back too soon. As great as it would be to see him pitching in April, I'd much rather see him pitching in October.

UNH lost to Denver in the Regional Finals yesterday. Cornell lasted until overtime against Minnesota but fell 2-1. There are now no teams east of the Mississippi in the tournament and I've suddenly lost alot of interest in it. I was hoping for Cornell because if they won it all, the party here in Ithaca, NY would be SICK. Oh well.

BREAKING NEWS: BC CHOKES

6-3 loss to North Dakota in Worcester in the East Regional Final. BC Athletics do not fail to choke under pressure and on the verge of greatness. The #1 ranked team in the tournament loses to a team ranked 10th and 11th by the two college hockey ranking polls. BC beat North Dakota 5-3 in October. The Eagles were 11-3-3 against tournament teams this season and of course, they lose to North fucking Dakota.

Denver beat Bemidji State 4-3 in OT. Minnesota beat Maine 1-0 in a great OT game. UNH is the lone Hockey East/New England survivor after beating Harvard 3-2 in OT. Colorodo College came back to beat Michigan in Grand Rapids 4-3. Cornell upset Ohio State 3-2.

North Dakote will play the winner of the Cornell/Minnesota game being played tomorrow. Colorodo College will play the winner of UNH and Denver.


The Celtics dropped their 3rd straight, this time to Detroit in Auburn, MI in OT. They really need to get back to winning games in order to cruise into the playoffs and get some games at The Garden.

7 Days, 19 Hours, 53 Minutes until Opening Day in the Bronx.